The sky had lightened to the point where I could discern colors, though it would still be a while before the sun rose over the surrounding mountains. The clouds were high and few, bathed red and gold in the east. The noise of industrious people filled the air; the sound of the march blended in, faded.
Silently I wished them luck and turned away. I needed something to do that did not involve going back into the town. I needed a distraction. My gaze roved over the trading post across the water; it wouldn't serve. I'd send a messenger there, not go myself. I wanted the message heard and word spread; a gossip. Renik, Anista’s spy would do nicely.
I moved to rub at the cut in my arm then stopped myself. It hurt enough already. I'd get Vesan to heal it later. The nick in my ear stung but I ignored that too.
My gaze ran over the work on the road; over a hundred men breaking rocks and as many women clearing the rubble. I could hear a smith’s hammer turning out new tools; pickaxes, sledge-hammers and shovels so that more men could be included in the work. The new road ran from the trading post, but Treleth would add a spur to the town, as we had agreed. My lips quirked in a brief smile; it was no surprise that he hadn't started work on that yet; it would be the last thing he did. Self-interest, as reliable as the sunrise.
I glanced at Parast. "Were there any books at Duprane's Keep when you looted it?"
"Sixty some volumes," he said. "Balaran sorted through them and took a few, the rest were sold to Lendrin Treleth."
I thought about that for a moment. "Send word to Caliran that his presence will be required at noon today, and tell him that a small number of books will be forthcoming as we agreed."
He acknowledged the order and I lapsed back into thought, my attention drifting over the rocky landscape around Darklake, lighting on the woodland to the south. I could hear the sounds of trees being felled, partly to make way for the road and partly because the timber would be needed. The last time I had passed through there I had left bodies behind me. Still, right now it was the least unpalatable option.
"Have a couple of horses brought to me here."
This time he gave a sketchy salute and moved away to relay the order. It wasn't the sort of instruction that could wait.
"You told me there were people who wanted to kill me."
"I did," Sapphire said. "But this is new."
I nodded. "Whoever is responsible is shifting the blame. There are implications to that. Whoever is responsible has something to lose if his crime is discovered; whoever is responsible is part of this community, not an outsider, not Silgar. Not a Necromancer kidnapping for leverage, either."
"There may be one such here, hiding among his people, but I found no hint of that when I was among them. Just general resentment, unspecific fear for the future; people are afraid of change and hate what they fear."
I let that pass. They hated me because I represented change and they feared change, even though that change was liberation from effective slavery. Another time I would have dwelled on the irony but today I had other things on my mind.
"Motive," I mused aloud. "Why? Why is he, she or they kidnapping children? What is happening to them and where are they now?"
Parast returned at that moment though Sapphire had showed no sign of answering. "When the orphans are brought to the hall, make sure whoever was looking out for them has free access."
"Yes, Patron." Parast made no move to carry out the order. It could wait. His gaze roved over the work going on around him; some of his men leading and directing the work, others resting as best they could. "I have picked out a few men from the Learneth faction who might make acceptable Vigils. Do I have your permission to arm them as such?"
We could use them. "Do it, but ask Vedat first and put them under his command; he's to be the magistrate in charge of that." The Learneth faction. "Is it possible that there are any left alive from there?"
Sapphire didn't need to be reminded of who I meant. "It was chaos there at the end. I never saw any of them or their agents. It's possible. They are the biggest group, the easiest to hide in, from us at least; but they would have to be hiding; many of the people of Learneth were opposed to them. Yet there were also sympathisers."
There were sympathisers. Sapphire had found and killed some, then.
"And from Darklake itself?"
He shook his head. "Hard to say. It was a small community, close knit. Still is. Those among the former leaders would be the prime candidates."
Kathan. Anista. Caliran. I turned to the north; they were still in sight, and I had sent Kathan with them, in command of warriors of Darklake. Could I have judged his character so poorly? I didn't think so. He seemed to be direct, honest, honourable. Even if I were badly mistaken, Balaran and one century would make short work of them, unless they acted in concert with others. But Meran was warned of that. He would have to cope, I decided. Learneth had to be secured; as did Hederan and the lands that used to be the Necromancers’.
"How many were there?"
"Twenty-three," Sapphire answered at once. "Fourteen died at the Grave, almost certainly. One, you killed. Two are accounted for in the north, one in the south. Possibly two at Hederan, possibly one or two more at Learneth, leaving only one completely unknown. And their agents, of course, an unknown number. And willing allies, also an unknown."
Anista. I didn't think so. A barbarian, stubborn, she was afraid of the Necromancers, yes, but a willing ally? An agent? I didn't think so. Caliran. A priest who followed his own god; not one of them, almost certainly. But a willing ally? Well, I had him under lock and key. But Silgar could walk through walls. Maybe Caliran wasn't as isolated as I thought; if he knew Silgar, if they had friends and allies in common, or if Caliran had some similar ability of his own. Acquiring knowledge was his avowed goal; who knew what he could do? Who knew what abilities he had?
"When you see Caliran later today, give me your impressions of him."
Sapphire gave an almost imperceptible nod.
Duprane knew Caliran; she had surely met him. She would know more. But I already knew that any information she gave me would come at a price; and I did not yet feel I wanted to give her more than I had already. Anista also, but I could not be sure of her, apart from the fact that she was not on good terms with me right now. Well, I could do something about that perhaps. If she sought me out today I might see what could be done about repairing that relationship. There was no doubt that things would go more smoothly if I could gain her cooperation; to do that I would have to change the way she thought, and I hadn't had much luck with that so far.
I noticed a work party leaving the trading post of Treleth. I noted the tools they carried, did a quick head count, saw that one of Treleth’s men was leading them but not towards the road-gangs; nor did they head directly south to the woodland. Miners? Mining what and where? I'd known that mines existed, but had imagined miners buying tools and getting on with things, not being hired by Treleth as though he owned the mines. Something else I would have to investigate and deal with if it proved necessary. Treleth was greedy and sly and would bear watching.
The arrival of my guards distracted me. They were mounted and leading two spare horses. Not what I had had in mind. Still, there was never a realistic chance that I would be allowed to ride out on my own. I supposed I should be grateful that the number of people who wanted to keep me alive seemed to outnumber those in the other camp.
#
The secret of success is to recognise an opportunity when you see it. And then to exploit it. Not that I had been looking, in fact. The truth was that I had been running away. Someone had tried to kill me, and not even for a good reason. Someone had started a rumour and the lie had been believed. The lie had festered in a man's mind and prompted him to act, to take a knife and wait for an opportunity to stick the blade in me. Luck had saved me, and not for the first time. Death was that close, that arbitrary. There were more than six thousand people crammed into Darklake. If they all decided to kill me, I was dead; simple as that
. I hadn't been able to face going back inside the walls, to walk among them, to be a target for any damn fool with a weapon in his hand. I had not been able to face it, so I'd thought of an excuse to do something else. A little exploring, a casual investigation into what was happening outside the town, to judge how soon Darklake would begin to pay me back for my investment. A ride in the woodland to the south. Not something that needed doing, but an excuse to be doing something. The invisible hand would see my investments grow without supervision; each individual’s self-interest would motivate them to use the money loaned for their own benefit, and the consequences of that would benefit me to one degree or another. I could just let them get on with it but sometimes there was further advantage to be had by helping things along.
"A waterwheel?"
The turner seemed puzzled by the suggestion. He had stripped a sapling, bent it like a bow, a cord fixed to the end of the sapling, wrapped around the piece to be turned, and fixed to a foot treadle. Each time he pressed the pedal the wood spun so that he could work it with a chisel, then the sapling sprang back slowly but firmly. He'd stopped work as soon as we arrived. He stood now in a pool of curled shavings and looked up at me with a puzzled expression on his face.
"Like a mill?" He said.
He'd been nervous at first, him and the two lads building a charcoal stack on the edge of a small clearing. Four riders coming through the trees toward them in what for him must be uncertain times; I could see his point. But he'd recognised me and relaxed a little. Now he was just curious and a little confused.
"If a waterwheel provides enough power to turn a mill, don't you think you could syphon off enough to turn a lathe?" I was leaning forward on the saddle-horn, trying not to loom over him too much. Sapphire and my guards weren't far away but none of them seemed interested. I'm not sure the turner was, either.
He cocked his head to one side and considered it, then gestured to the sapling. "This works well enough and doesn't cost me anything."
I suppressed a smile as best I could. He'd already calculated that the waterwheel wouldn't be free. Smart man. "Yes, but the sapling has to spring back each time you release the pedal; a waterwheel would provide continuous power. And you could run more than one lathe off it," I nodded to the two lads; the family resemblance was unmistakable. "Can your boys use a lathe?"
He glanced at the boys, pretending to be busy with their work but actually watching and listening. Then he looked at his lathe; I could practically see him imagining the lathe turning continually, imagining how much faster he could turn one piece and move on to the next. Then he glanced at his boys again. Three lathes in constant operation, churning out table and chair legs and bowls and plates. I knew what his next objection would be and beat him to it.
"The road will be complete before fall, traders will be passing through."
He idly scratched his leg, thinking about it. "Not much wood in the north," he muttered, "none on Battling Plain. Not much clay worth talking about, either." Wooden bowls and plates. Hundreds of them.
"I need to build the watermill anyway," I said, straightening in the saddle. Not true, in fact. Darklake couldn't continue with this many people here. Learneth would have to be re-colonized and a better mill wasn't needed. But fine flour could be sold up to three days’ travel away. And there were other uses for the power generated. It could do no harm and wouldn't cost so much to build.
"Well," he leaned forward and set the chisel, "time enough to think it through, then."
I turned the horses head and walked her in a circle. He pressed the pedal and spun the lathe; a fine ribbon of wood peeled away from the wood he worked. He would rent space by the mill once it was made, I was sure. But that wasn't enough. "Any client of mine would be exempt from rent for the first two months," I commented.
He released the pedal and the sapling returned to true. I let the horse take a step or two.
"That would give a man a chance to get established, Patron."
Yes it would. Client.
I urged the horse to move on.
The secret of success is to recognise an opportunity when you see it.
#
A thirty yard swathe had been felled through the woodland. Axes biting into wood, the thunk of blade on wood echoing out and back, sometimes coming together in a crescendo and punctuated by the occasional cry of "Fall!" as warning and the following sound of a tree about to crash to the ground. Men gathered to strip the fallen trees and mules dragged the trunks away to be stacked to dry and later be used as timber. The sounds of industry; the music of men making a life for themselves and improving their situation. Work to make money to buy food and food production was another man's work. It was a cycle, but one that grew and progressed and became strong if you fed it on freedom. Turning sweat into money. I could watch people doing it all day.
We sat our horses and watched. People making money. You can steal it, cheat people out of it, but someone somewhere has to make it, and you can only make money with sweat. Turning sweat into money is the only way.
Sapphire stirred beside me and I glanced at him before turning to see what he was suddenly interested in. A hundred yards away a mule train was threading its way through the trees, accompanied by a handful of armed men to guard them, each mule heavily burdened with sacks and led by a muleteer. I'd been expecting it, more or less. Treleth would have sent word south; bring on the goods, I have a market. Well, he did, and that was all to the good for me. I was glad to see them. Not so glad to see the messenger who rode with them. Not one of Orlyn's but a messenger dressed in the livery of the Assembly of Patrons. There was only one reason he could be here. He would be carrying a letter from the assembly for me. And I couldn't think of any good reason why they would be in contact; which meant that it had to be a bad reason. Whatever they wanted I would have to obey them. Whatever they wanted me to do, I would have to do it.
#
"There is no damn way I'm doing this."
Apart from Sapphire, I was alone. Outside my office, the hall buzzed with noise and the occasional shriek of children's laughter, the sharp admonition to silence of a mother. Some of the children had no mothers, but were now the charges of the women of the hall. It added up to a lot of women and children. There were several others there, waiting for my attention. I was making some of them wait deliberately, others just so that I did not seem to show favour to one over another.
Anista, Vedat, Orasin, Seldas, Mielkan; all of the newly appointed magistrates of Darklake who either desired to report to me or had questions or sought instruction. Of them all, only Anista had not yet consented to become my client. They all needed my time, some more than others. But for now they would all have to wait.
Then there was Hald Epwhel, brother of Ernath Epwhel, uncle to Dannat, now chieftain of Twobridges, here to accept custody of his nieces and perhaps to negotiate for the release of Dannat's wife and children; doubtless also here to negotiate relations with myself. I had mistaken him and his companion for hireling guards attached to the mule train; armed and armored and wearing local garb, there had been nothing to distinguish them from the others except an arrogance and air of command that had me assuming he was the captain of the guard. I had joined them to ride back to Darklake and I had been chatting to him for a short time before it became obvious who he was. He had known me at once, of course. That damn stone set in my forehead gave me away every time; but he had not greeted me by name, nor announced himself. So he had the measure of me before I knew who I was talking to; by that I knew him for a sly clever man and by his laughter when I realised my error, I knew him for a man with an open and honest sense of humour.
Resh Ephannan was a different matter. He and five other leaders of minor clans out of the west had been waiting for me on my return. Their combined retinue of over sixty warriors was camped at the top of the rise outside Darklake. Their arrival had caused a panic; the valley behind Darklake was deserted, the populace fled to the safety of the town. The western gate was closed an
d as many soldiers as could be spared manned the walls. Their combined show of strength was provocative and they could also wait, at least until I got my anger under control. Resh Ephannan and the other clan leaders had refused an invitation to enter the town, preferring instead to remain with their men, and demanding instead that I ride out to them.
Then there was Elendas with his plate. Had he really taken me so literally? Or was he mocking me?
And none of it mattered. Not now.
Sapphire lowered the dispatch. "You have a choice?"
I didn't answer. Did I have a choice? The seal had been broken and the duplicate seal would have chimed. That it had been opened would be known to the Assembly. The messenger lived and knew when the letter had been placed in my hand. The only good news was that the messenger was no longer here, so he could not give witness to the time of my departure. The bad news was that he had ridden north as soon as he had word that Meran was not present in Darklake. Meran would also be ordered south, and doubtless also answer charges. He could not remain here and act in my name.
"If you ignore this it will mean one more charge laid against you when you appear in the courts."
I reached out and he leaned forward to pass me the letter. I set it before me and read again.
To Sumto Merian Ichatha Cerulian from the Assembly and People of Luria, greetings.
By our order you, as commander in the field in the disputed region of Battling Plain and environs of the Urnalin Mountains, are ordered to withdraw from the area. It is the opinion of the Assembly that no material benefit can be gained from this incursion into foreign territory and further that you have acted beyond the bounds of your commission, risking provocation of the Empire of the Forthar who have a declared interest in the region. No conflict is sought with Fortharian Empire, and it is in the interests of the assembly and people of Luria that no military presence be permitted north of the Alendia border set by our order at the town of Roken, formerly known as The Eyrie. At such time as this order is received, Sumto Merian Ichatha Cerulian shall return to the city by the most direct route and lay down his imperium at the border of the city, that he may answer charges of carrying illegal war beyond the boundaries of our territories, illegally raising troops in the name of the Assembly, murder of a citizen, and treason, not later than one month after passing within the boundary of the city. This instruction that the interests of the assembly and people of Luri be furthered and that justice be done.
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